Does Islam actually teach violence? Many non-Muslims seem to quote verses from the Quran where Muslims are asked to fight and kill infidles.

Atheist View

Some Muslims teach violence, some Muslims teach nonviolence. The Koran contains words that can inspire both. But from the very beginning its authors were remarkably violent, and showed no signs of advocating nonviolence in any form. So as a matter of objective history it would seem the Koran was written by violent people, for violent people, to justify their violence in the name of God. What Muslims now reinterpret the Koran to mean varies. But the future of their faith will depend on which path they take. Violence will doom Islam as Muslims will then only continue to make enemies of all civilization and exhaust their resources in futile rage. But if all Muslims of the world turned Islam into a genuinely and widely practiced path of peace and kindness, then all Muslims would live better lives. Time will tell which lesson they learn.